No D and all Denard?   No, not this time around.

On Saturday Michigan won in a way that not too many thought was possible.  On a very rainy day in West Lafayette, IN at Ross-Ade Stadium, the Wolverines were able to overcome a miserable performance from Denard Robinson, their star quarterback, and relied instead on their heavily depleted defense to defeat Purdue by a score of 27-16.

Rich Rodriguez, Michigan coach said, boy that sure was an ugly win.  We will take it though.

Both ways, it was really ugly.  If the game was judged on ball security, then neither one of the teams deserved a win.  Each of them committed five turnovers in the game.

Robinson himself committed four- two were interceptions and two were fumbles.  Things got so bad that Rodriguez started to rotate Robinson, a Heisman trophy favorite, and backup quarterback Tate Forcier, beginning mid third quarter.  On six possessions in a row they alternated possessions.

Robinson, however, even having such a bad day did come back and convert two critical third downs during the last minutes of the game to set Michigan’s clinching touchdown up.  He first connected on a pass of 25 yards with Kevin Koger, tight end, on third down and seven.  Next, on third down and nine he had a run of 11 yards.

The Wolverines (7-3, Big Ten 3-3) iced the game with a touchdown run of 3 yards from freshman Stephen Hopkins with 1:58 to play.

For the very first time in the three years that Rodriquez has been their head football coach, Michigan has won back to back conference games.

Next Saturday the Wolverines will play at home versus Wisconsin, who this Saturday defeated Indiana 83-20.  Michigan will wrap the regular season up on the road by facing Ohio State.

The young defense of Michigan started gaining some confidence during the triple overtime win last week over Illinois, contrary to popular belief and despite allowing 65 points (the most in school history).

In the Illinois game the Wolverines defense was being constantly put into tough situations due to poor special teams play and turnovers.  However they were finally able to complete on third downs, which for much of this season has been their biggest weakness.  On the two point conversion Michigan’s defense was also able to make a clinching stop.

For Michigan’s defense these were baby steps.  For three years in a row the defense has been atrocious.  However, they were able to carry their progress over to the game on Saturday versus Purdue (4-6, Big Ten 2-4).

Being able to stop the Boilermakers isn’t a big accomplishment certainly.  The offense of Purdue’s is the Big Ten’s worst ranked team, and is also depleted due to injuries just like the Michigan defense.

Someone in this game needed to look good.  It had to be either the league’s worst defense or worst offense.

For the Wolverines, fortunately, their defense was the one that looked good.  They didn’t allow any touchdowns.

That isn’t a misprint.  The defense of Michigan didn’t allow any touchdowns.

Purdue’s scoring came from an interception return of 94 yards along with three field goals.  The defense for Michigan, which was averaging 453.7 yards allowed per game, only allowed 256 yards on Saturday.

On their third down conversions, Purdue went 2 out of 17.  Last week Illinois was 6 for 16.

That was quite a turnaround after Penn State two weeks ago went 10 out of 16 on third downs and 2 for 2 on fourth downs in their win over Michigan.

Also, the Wolverines defense had been quite inept when it came to creating turnovers, but in this game got a touchdown score when safety Cameron Gordon returned a fumble 58 yards during the first quarter.

Most astonishing of all, is Michigan played nearly the whole game without Mike Martin, nose tackle and top defensive player, as well as Jonas Mouton, linebacker and leading tackler, due to injuries.

Rodriguez said, I am very proud of the team’s defense.  Our young guys really did hang in there.

It’s a good win for us.  Anytime you get a Big Ten win on the road, that’s a good win.

Watching the game, you may not have thought the win was so good.  It was actually fairly nasty.

However when your defense has to play without their most experienced and best players, and the team’s quarterback, who is supposedly unstoppable, keeps stopping himself, then yes you will take the win and cherish it.